Chalk line devices are widely employed to mark straight chalk lines on surfaces on a work piece or a work place. Generally, the chalk line device includes a housing or casing which defines a reservoir for storing chalk and stores an extendable chalk line about a spool that is driven by a crank mechanism outside of the housing. Chalk line devices use a chalk material (e.g., finely powdered) which is applied to the chalk line within the housing. The chalk material may be white or colored brightly so as to allow the user to distinguish a mark line from a surface color of the work piece/work place. The chalk line typically terminates with a clip or a hook. The clip or hook facilitates securing the chalk line to an object or the work piece, and may also act as a stop against a wall of the housing to prevent the end of the chalk line from entering inside the housing during rewinding or retraction of the chalk line.
To mark a straight chalk line using a chalk line device, a chalk material is applied to the chalk line, generally from a chalk material stored in the reservoir of the chalk line device, and the chalk line with the chalk material thereon is pulled taut along the desired straight line, and the taut chalk line is “snapped” to leave a straight line of chalk material/powder on the surface of the work piece or work place. The chalk line device may be filled with additional chalk material when the chalk material runs out.
The present disclosure provides improvements over prior art chalk line devices.